Mil-spec style crimping

Status
Not open for further replies.
Electromatic

Electromatic

Senior Member
Location
Virginia
Occupation
Master Electrician
Every so often I end up having to work with some fancy circular connectors along the lines of Deutsch, Amphenol, etc. Does anyone have any knowledge or recommendations for crimping tools for these applications?
Most of the crimpers look something like this:
closed crimper1.jpg
The connector manufacturers usually want several hundred dollars for their version plus $100 or so each for various pin positioners and other accoutrements. The one I pictured is only about $140. This seems like a pretty tight tolerance kind of connection, but since I only deal with them once every few years, I'm not sure about tool investment in this case. Any advice would be appreciated.
Also, if anyone has a good source for the actual connectors, let me know. The one I'm dealing with now is a LEMO brand. I've found some on Digi-Key and Mouser, but the particular one I need is out of stock with a multiple week lead time from the factory.
 
If its really a milspec crimper that the lemo connector needs, M22520 or whatever, then you can use any manufacturer of that same crimper and you have to set it up correctly and lemo should have a gauge pin for checking the die opening. On the other hand if its a crimper proprietary to lemo you should use theirs. If we were talking about hobby electronics then it would be a different situation, but in a professional environment you pretty much need to use the right crimper. When only doing a few pins with an AF8 I have cheated on having the positioner and manually aligned the contact with the crimp die, so maybe you can get away without the positioner if you only have a couple pins to do.
 
Most all of our products are DOD or space flight. The largest portion of our crimping tools are DMC. Our largest portion of connector types are Mil-C-5015, 38999, M24308, etc.

Crimp Tools

Explore Daniels Manufacturing Corporation's top-of-the-line crimp tools, designed for precision and reliability in electrical, aviation, and aerospace applications. Discover our range of high-quality, mil-qualified crimping solutions for professional wire termination and electrical connector...
www.dmctools.com www.dmctools.com

Yes, they aren't cheap, but they are very good quality. As far as Deutsch, Amphenol, etc circular mil type, the DMC will give a four-position crimp. If you wanted to get way into the weeds, you could also buy a pull tension tester. Each time you change the tool to a different setting, you crimp a test contact and do a pull test to make sure it still performs correctly after the change and to verify the change in settings was done correctly.

We've used a few LEMOs in the past. It's pretty much any connector right now on lead times. The supply chain is beyond a train wreck. I typically browse ICC for circular mils. They stock the shells, inserts, and accessories and build to order. "Usaully" you can have something in a few weeks.

 
Thanks for the replies.
The current job is for a university engineering department where a couple of conductors in a sensor cable connector have detached from the pins. There's some fairly high-tech stuff there, but at the same time, they have cables strewn all over the floor--no wonder the connector went bad.
The LEMO rep said to use their tool or the Daniels MH860. I'm still kind of tempted by the cheap one: the excitement of a new tool without the sticker shock!
 
Here's something inbetween the DMC and the amazon special

www.jrdtools.com

JRready YJQ-W7A M22520/7-01 Aviation Wire Crimp Tool 16-28AWG (1.32-0.

JRready YJQ-W7A M22520/7-01 Crimp Tool 16-28AWG(1.32-0.08mm²) Designed according to MIL-C-22520/7-01 Suitable for crimping round contacts of MIL standard, Harting, Wain, TE connectors Wire Crimp Range: 16-28AWG (1.32-0.08mm²); Adapts 86, 86A, 86-37 series positioners Pneumatic Version: YJQ-W7Q...
www.jrdtools.com

I have one of their crimpers that came with a bunch of other ones I bought used, it seems pretty good quality.
 
With Lemo you need not just the right crimp tool but also the right pin holder. And then they have charts that tell you what setting to put the crimper on for each type of pin and each gauge of wire. Or at least that's how it was the last time I worked with Lemos (15 years ago).

The crimpers were prohibitively expensive ($500+ for the tool and $50+ for each pin holder) but that just seems like something you bill to the customer.

If they can afford Lemos they can afford a Lemo crimper. The cost of one crimper will buy you maybe 10 mated pairs of Lemo B family connectors (depending on shell size, obviously, some of the big ones are close to the cost of a crimper).

You could also ask a Lemo rep if you can borrow one or even talk to a local harness shop and see if they'll do the crimps for you for something sane.

The best place to buy Lemos, 15 years ago, was from Lemo manufacturer reps. See here for coverage map.
 
DMC (Daniels, not the embroidery floss people) has a good what tool do I need for what pins site:

Tool Selection Search

www.dmctools.com www.dmctools.com

Then shop for used DMC tooling. ;)

Be careful with the small (20 or smaller AWG) install and remove tools, they break easily. But I still like them better than the plastic ones that come with the connectors.
 
If the tool pictured in the first post will accept the diameter of the pins contacts you have, just set the depth screw and hold the contact in the center. It should be an 8 crimp style tool. If it isn't then not a good tool. You might also find out what diameters the wires of the Go-NO Go gauge for that contact is and see if any common wire laying around is that dimension. If the connector is not going into space or on an airplane, requirements are not as rigid. It just has to hold together for people moving cables.

I see, the MH860 is just the old AFM8 with capability expanded to 16 AWG. Put your contact number into the DMC site and see what they say you need. If no 16 or 18 AWG contacts, the AFM8 might work (and the positioner for your contact), and lots of those used out there.
 
I use deutsch, amphenol, and others daily. A couple years back we bought a “knock off” tool to check its quality. Amazon purchase for less then half. Can’t tell a difference in quality compared to the $400 deutsch crimper and less than half the cost.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top